The home was previously owned
by the late Christopher H. Browne, the managing director of a New
York investment firm who bought it in the late 1990s, according
to a 2007 profile inThe New York Times. Browne and his partner of 10 years,
architect Andrew Gordon, spent much of their time renovating and
landscaping the property.

According to Page Six, when Browne died of a
heart attack in 2009 in Florida, he left his entire estate to
Gordon. However, legal disputes between Gordon’s and Browne’s
families raged on until 2012, when Gordon — then dying of cancer
— was allowed via a secret settlement to live out the rest of his
life in the home he had shared with Browne.

When Gordon passed away this past fall, Browne’s family began
quietly shopping around the mansion, according to Page Six.
Ultimately, they sold the estate without using a broker, avoiding
some serious fees and commissions (which is also why there are no
listing photos of the property).

Sources told The New York Post that brokers in the area were
“crestfallen” and “furious” that no broker was hired, with one
broker saying that the Browne family “closed ranks. It was all
very hush-hush.”